1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to educational methods at the classroom and individual level, as well as systems for implementing such methods. More particularly, the present invention relates to an educational method which combines audio-visual and computer technology to shift the teacher's role away from mass pupil instruction and paperwork and back to the more traditional role of helping each individual student with his or her unique educational difficulties.
2. State of the Art
Classroom teaching methods have changed very little since the early days of our country. The bedrock of education remains the teacher or professor lecturing to groups of students, commonly in conjunction with a text. Homework is assigned to reinforce the lessons learned in class and tests are administered to measure students' aptitude and retention of the material. At the early levels of education, the setting for this instruction has and continues to be the schoolroom, public or private, where a teacher is responsible for a group of, for example, fifteen to forty students.
The conventional classroom method of teaching a subject typically involves a lesson plan which includes a plurality of lectures each having an associated written homework assignment for the student to reinforce the lecture. The teacher collects and evaluates the homework and occasionally gives tests to measure the students' retention of the material. The teacher is also required to perform a multitude of other subsidiary tasks, such as report card generation and parent-teacher conferences, to keep the community satisfied with both the students' and the teacher's performance. Thus under the conventional classroom scenario, teachers must split their time to assume the roles of administrator and public relation officer, as well their supposedly primary role of teacher.
Educators have long recognized that while the classroom scenario provides economies of scale, one drawback is that students of different ages and aptitudes learn at differing rates and with the need for varying amounts of individual attention. This recognition led to the availability of private tutoring, for those who could afford such, provides more flexibility to meet an individual student's needs. On the other hand, private tutoring has also been criticized since it does not provide the student with the opportunity to develop social skills which is inherent in the classroom setting.
Although this traditional method of education has changed little over the years, the amount of information which students need to assimilate to be considered well educated continues to increase geometrically. This fact is graphically illustrated by the technological wonders which surround us such as microcomputers, DNA mapping, videophones, etc. The increase in information puts a correspondingly greater burden on teachers to try to cram more learning into the same amount of time, which leads to an associated increase in the amount of paperwork to be handled. Moreover, as fiscal resources grow more and more scarce, teachers have been required to handle even larger groups of students resulting in even less individual attention.
Although these problems are rapidly becoming more acute, they have been acknowledged by educators for many years. Many countries have reacted by adding more days to the school year or sending children to school at an earlier age so that students have more time to acquire the additional knowledge necessary. This solution, however, will only provide short term relief since there is only a finite amount of additional learning time which can be reasonably added to students' schedules, while our knowledge base will always continue to expand. Additionally, increasing the school year further aggravates the fiscal problem of education by requiring even greater economic resources and putting greater pressure on teachers.
Educators have also experimented with alternate teaching methods, such as self-study programs and videotaped lectures, to both more efficiently use teachers' time and to provide an element of individuality to a student's study program. Although these types of methods are somewhat successful at higher levels of education, they are generally ineffective at lower levels where younger students lack the discipline to teach themselves.